Interview with Helen Wyman Before Paris-Ancaster

Helen Wyman, a seasoned bike racer from England, is racing this weekend in the Paris-Ancaster race. A professional road racer and cyclo-cross racer, this is Wyman’s first visit to Canada. Last weekend she raced in the Tour of Bronte where she placed second. Next weekend she’ll dig out the mountain bike and race at the Mansfield Mountain Bike race. Wyman has been taking in as much of Canada as she can, posting on Twitter about the sudden snow falls, looking for moose and beaver, and considering a Tim Horton’s coffee trip.

I caught up with Wyman before this weekend’s race to get her impressions of Canada, the racing here, and life in general. Wyman is 29 years old and has been racing professionally for six years, she rides for Kona/FSA.

How was the Tour of Bronte for you? Did this race live up to expectation?
I’m not entirely sure i had any expectations of the race exactly as its always new in every country. You never know what the standard of racing will be or who you are racing against or how they race.It was a really fun race and a great start to the trip. the circuit was brilliant and made for seriously fun racing.

Paris to Ancaster is a “famous” race here in Ontario, how are you feeling going into it?
I’ve been told its also a great race and I’m really excited about it. Last weekend was my first race since the end of the cross season and it was really nice to be able to make efforts again so I’m really looking forward to this weekend.

Which bike(s) did you bring with you for this Canada trip?
I just brought my Kona Major Jake ‘cross bike and road and semi slick ‘cross tyres.

How did you end up coming to Canada for a few weeks of racing this spring?
Mike Garrigan is a friend of mine and when Stef (my husband) and Mike were talking the organizer was looking for international riders so it just happened really!

Impressions of Canada? Where have you been so far?
You have a lot of straight roads ha ha! No its really nice and there are no cars its really good.

Tell us about your summer racing plans back in Belgium?
This summer i will mostly be racing Belgium kermeses until July when i have a couple of stage races in France and then some criteriums in Holland in August.

Most people know you as a cyclo-cross racer – how do you balance a large road racing schedule with such an intense cyclo-cross calendar?
Yah I have done a lot of road racing in the past, all classics then 5 or 6 stage races then back into ‘cross but I’ve lost interest in road a little bit more each season so this year I’ve changed tact and am using the first few months of the year for racing different stuff like these races here in Canada.

Any season goals you want to share?
For this road season I don’t have any yet but for next ‘cross season I’m aiming to get back on the World Cup podium as i missed it last season – ha ha.

How did you get involved with bike racing?
My family are into cycling as a hobby so we used to go on cycling holidays all the time. When I was 14 my brother wanted to race and I had to do everything he did so I raced to! Then I half stopped when I went to university then started to take it seriously when I started work.

What Canadian souvenirs are you taking back to Belgium and England?
I’m still trying to locate a fury Canadian hat for my husband and I’ll probably take some maple syrup!

Anything you want to add about this trip or racing in general?
I’m really glad the weather has improved since my first day here when it snowed – ha ha ha!